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36 China Town
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'36 China Town' - Lacks the punch

By Nikhil Kumar
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

It is clear now why Subhash Ghai wanted to keep the climax of ‘36 China Town’ a secret before the movie’s release. The suspense is such a downer that it would have earned bad publicity for the movie.

So, here comes yet another whodunit from Abbas-Mastan duo, the men in white whose forte is to make suspense thrillers.

However,

despite all the hype and brouhaha, ‘36 China Town’ is like a damp squib, a movie that is less of an edge-of-the-seat thriller and more of a medley of celluloid masalas, intended to provide wholesome entertainment – songs, comedy, romance, murder, suspense et al. But the movie ends up neither here nor there. It neither thrills, nor it entertains.

The movie’s story revolves around the murder of a high-profile woman. There are a number of usual suspects and there is a brainy cop who is hell bent to solve the mystery.

Sonia (Isha Koppikar) runs a casino in Goa. When her little son goes missing, she declares hefty reward money for anyone who finds her son and brings him back to her.

Raj (Shahid Kapur) and Priya (Kareena Kapoor), strangers to each other, find the little toddler and decide to split evenly the reward money between them.

But when they take the child to Sonia’s bungalow, they find the lady murdered. In shock and panic, Raj and Priya flee the scene of crime but they forget behind a suitcase that straightaway links them to the murder.

The case is taken by inspector Akshay (Akshaye Khanna), who knows there is more to this murder than meets the eye at first.

As the inspector investigates, the list of usual suspects goes on increasing. Among the suspects are a playboy (Upen Patel) and two couples (Paresh Rawal-Payal Rohatgi and Johnny Lever-Tanaaz).

As the cop stumbles upon some crucial clues, he slowly zeroes down on the killer’s identity and motive for murder.

The trouble with ‘36 China Town’ is that the film’s story keeps on veering off the track and into other sub-plots that seem to have been incorporated in the story just for the heck of providing all-round entertainment. The romantic track between Shahid and Kareena, their dream sequences, lacks the spark of two people in love (at least on the reel). The comedy track by Paresh Rawal and Johnny Lever is fine at times but an overemphasis on it (even in the second half) takes the story’s grit away. The movie’s climax completes the list of disappointments.

And then, there are songs too many to bear. In the first 15-20 minutes only, two songs (one on newcomer Upen Patel and another of Shahid Kapur, Tanushree Dutta) are squeezed almost back to back.

Among the host of actors in the movie, it is only Akshaye Khanna who makes a little impact. The actor keeps an inquisitive look in his eyes, maintains a stern demeanor and does his characteristic pursing of lips. His styling in some scenes (with hat and suit) is appalling.

Shahid Kapur is cute and charming, but he merely ends up making faces in the name of acting. Also, the physical maturity is still not visible in him.

Kareena Kapoor enacts her part fine enough, but how one wishes the writers had etched a meatier character for her. In the name of meat, she is seen flaunting her cleavage in a song.

Paresh Rawal acquits himself despite some inane humour written for his character. Johnny Lever overacts. Upen Patel’s dubbed performance is nothing to write home about.

Payal Rohatgi’s presence is merely that of a beauty doll and Priyanka Chopra’s cameo is a thud.

To cut to the chase, ‘36 China Town’ is a glossy flick with a little bit of romance, thrills, comedy, sleaze, song ‘n’ dance, suspense and a jaw-dropping climax. A wee bit of everything virtually makes for nothing in the end.

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